The Man with the Baltic Stare: An Inspector O Novel
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.24 (519 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0312569416 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-02-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
It's really a kind of exile, though, as O was ordered to the mountain by the government. In time, O learns that his new superior is a South Korean, and that a reunification of North and South is planned. Many novelists cheerfully admit that writing fiction allows them to invent everything. From Booklist *Starred Review* Inspector O, the wily North Korean police detective, has retired to a mountaintop to shape wood with his grandfather's tools. Even so, he accepts his new life. Each Inspector O novel is a strange new trip through the looking glass, and this one is every bit as praiseworthy as its predecessors. Even O's remarkable Buddhist-Taoist sangfroid is stretched to its limits. And everyone he meets, even a hotel bellhop, seems to know things that O does not. But at every turn, O is threatened—by his superior, by gangsters fr
The mysterious Inspector O is once again drawn into a web of concessions and cover-ups in the newest mystery from critically acclaimed author James Church.Autumn brings unwelcome news to Inspector O: wrenched from retirement, he has been ordered to Pyongyang for an assignment. The Man with the Baltic Stare is a chilling, atmospheric noira fascinating response to the works of Martin Cruz Smith and John Le Carre.. Then he learns that several groupsremnants of the old regime, foreign powers, rival gangsall want a piece of the action, and all make clear that if O values his life, he will not get in their way. O isn't sure where his loyalties lie, and he doesn't have much time to figure out whether ‘tis better to be noble or be dead.Once again, James Church's spare, lyrical writing illuminates an unfamiliar landscap
Mal Warwick said Too difficult to figure out what's going on. In the closing years of the past decade, beginning in "Too difficult to figure out what's going on" according to Mal Warwick. In the closing years of the past decade, beginning in 2008, North Korea began descending into chaos as its dictator, Kim Jong-Il, fell gravely ill. His youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, then only in his mid-twenties, began to emerge as the heir apparent, crowding aside not just his older brothers but the senior officials who wanted to end the Kim dynasty and seize power themselves. The outside world learned few of the details about the power struggle underway, but it was clearly ferocious and led to considerable bloodletting. One or two highly public executions surfaced in the news, but there were undoubtedly many mor. 008, North Korea began descending into chaos as its dictator, Kim Jong-Il, fell gravely ill. His youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, then only in his mid-twenties, began to emerge as the heir apparent, crowding aside not just his older brothers but the senior officials who wanted to end the Kim dynasty and seize power themselves. The outside world learned few of the details about the power struggle underway, but it was clearly ferocious and led to considerable bloodletting. One or two highly public executions surfaced in the news, but there were undoubtedly many mor. Mary Whipple said "Consider me a candle with nothing left to burn, no flame, all consumed.". ("Consider me a candle with nothing left to burn, no flame, all consumed." Mary Whipple (4.5 stars) Author James Church takes his series of mysteries set in North Korea in new directions with this surprising fourth novel. Church, a former intelligence officer with the U.S. government, has spent much time in Asia, and presumably North Korea, and he makes a foray here into speculative fiction-not speculating on life in North Korea in the far distant future, but in the very immediate future. When this novel opens, it is 2016, and Inspector O, the iconoclastic officer who has been the fascinating main character of the three previous novels, has been happily retired from action, living in blessed isola. .5 stars) Author James Church takes his series of mysteries set in North Korea in new directions with this surprising fourth novel. Church, a former intelligence officer with the U.S. government, has spent much time in Asia, and presumably North Korea, and he makes a foray here into speculative fiction-not speculating on life in North Korea in the far distant future, but in the very immediate future. When this novel opens, it is ""Consider me a candle with nothing left to burn, no flame, all consumed."" according to Mary Whipple. ("Consider me a candle with nothing left to burn, no flame, all consumed." Mary Whipple (4.5 stars) Author James Church takes his series of mysteries set in North Korea in new directions with this surprising fourth novel. Church, a former intelligence officer with the U.S. government, has spent much time in Asia, and presumably North Korea, and he makes a foray here into speculative fiction-not speculating on life in North Korea in the far distant future, but in the very immediate future. When this novel opens, it is 2016, and Inspector O, the iconoclastic officer who has been the fascinating main character of the three previous novels, has been happily retired from action, living in blessed isola. .5 stars) Author James Church takes his series of mysteries set in North Korea in new directions with this surprising fourth novel. Church, a former intelligence officer with the U.S. government, has spent much time in Asia, and presumably North Korea, and he makes a foray here into speculative fiction-not speculating on life in North Korea in the far distant future, but in the very immediate future. When this novel opens, it is 2016, and Inspector O, the iconoclastic officer who has been the fascinating main character of the three previous novels, has been happily retired from action, living in blessed isola. 016, and Inspector O, the iconoclastic officer who has been the fascinating main character of the three previous novels, has been happily retired from action, living in blessed isola. Merrily Baird said Perhaps the most subtle and insightful of the Inspector O Series. As previous reviews of the Inspector O books indicate, James Church weaves into his mysteries set in North Korea real events that he once tracked as an intelligence officer and now observes as an academic. In one book it was North Korea's dealings through its Gold Star Bank in Austria, in another the Israeli attempt to halt North Korean missile sales to the Middle East. In "The Man with the Baltic Stare," the fourth of the novels, the focus is quite different and turns to two issues of strategic importance: who will succeed the current leader of North Korea and will North Korean survive as an independent nation
JAMES CHURCH (pseudonym) is a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia.